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| (AP Photo/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Brant Sanderlin) |
◼ Actually, Atlanta's icy logjam is a beacon of hope for the future - Benita M. Dodd/Washington Examiner (image source)
Every way you turned in Atlanta on Tuesday night, the examples of kindness and character were heartwarming.
On an icy hill on Peachtree Battle Road, for example, a young man stood guard, pushing sliding vehicles back on track.
On West Wesley Road, as traffic inched forward, a family stood, bundled up, outside their home to offer passing motorists homemade chocolate chip cookies. Neighbors of 1-75 and I-285 came out to serve hot cocoa and snacks to stranded motorists.
At the state Capitol, legislators offered their couches to stranded visitors; at schools, principals and teachers stayed late or overnight.
At the Fairfield Inn in Alpharetta, cheerful staff fed all comers, including people camping in the lobby because no rooms were available.
On the interstates, as cars crawled around trapped tractor-trailers and abandoned autos, drivers got out, unprompted, to help push sliding vehicles forward – and not just those in their lane. No horns honked.
Social media played a huge role. On Facebook and Twitter, people and business owners offered homes, offices, rides, food and information, reaching out to complete strangers.
Chick-fil-A fed folks; Home Depot stores stayed open overnight to shelter the stranded; in Publix, Kroger, CVS and Walgreens stores, people dozed in the aisles....
What was the common thread? Individual responsibility and personal initiative. People acted without prompting from government.
They didn’t wait to be told to help. They saw a need, they filled it. They were charitable in the truest sense of the word.
